When families go to a restaurant or other similar facility for dining, they often include small children. The children may be small toddlers or even smaller infants. Therefore, for a pleasurable dining experience for the entire family, and particularly for the adults of the party, the small children must be properly and safely accommodated at the table.
While larger children are often able to sit in regular adult chairs, some with the aid of a traditional booster seat, the smaller toddler and infant children require special arrangements. For example, traditional high chairs have long been available for toddler children who are able to sit up on their own, but who are yet too small to sit in an adult chair, even with a booster seat. Furthermore, high chairs are particularly suitable for rambunctious toddlers for whom a certain amount of containment is desired during a meal. High chairs provide certain restraints, such as belts, for a child placed therein, and therefore, provide peace of mind for the parents or caregivers during the meal. Additionally, the seating platform for the toddler child is generally smaller than in an adult chair, thereby helping the child to remain in an upright position.
While traditional high chairs have been suitable for toddler children who can sit on their own, they are entirely inadequate for infant children who do not yet have the motor skills to do so. Infants are generally brought to restaurants in an infant carrier, often referred to as a "pumpkin seat." Infant carriers usually include a cradle-shaped base for comfortably carrying or supporting the infant. A pivoting handle is attached to the base so an adult may manipulate the carrier. When dining with an infant child, parents often have to place the infant carrier and infant on the table, on a chair (if large enough) or on the floor. All of those available options for placement of the infant carrier are undesirable. Not only is the carrier exposed to chances of falling, but oftentimes there is not sufficient table space for safely placing the infant carrier thereon. Furthermore, a chair may be too small to accommodate the carrier. Even if the chair is large enough, the awkward and cumbersome shape of infant carriers often requires that the chair and carrier be wedged against the table to ensure that the carrier does not fall off of the chair. This can present a precarious and, therefore, dangerous situation for the infant. Finally, placing the infant and carrier on a dirty, drafty restaurant floor is certainly an option to be avoided, even though it is often the safest of the available options.
One option, but one which is dangerous and discouraged or prohibited by many restaurants, is to turn a traditional high chair structure upside-down and place the infant carrier in the wide base of the chair. In doing so, the chair rests on the very narrow seat portion. Therefore, the upside-down chair is very likely to fall, which could injure a baby placed thereon. Furthermore, the restaurant could be exposed to legal liability for an injured child. While such an option is discouraged, parents will still choose to do so, and restaurants will allow them for the purposes of accommodation or lack of a more suitable option.
Attempts have also been made to develop a support device specifically for infant carriers. Many such structures are expensive and complicated and are only adapted to a specific carrier design. If a restaurant does not have a specific device for the family's infant carrier, the parents have to carry their own support device. As may be appreciated, it is very inconvenient and time-consuming to have to transport and set up such a device in a restaurant.
One type of device for supporting a variety of different infant carriers consists of a sling stretched between two support elements. The sling forms a hammock to receive the carrier. Such a device is usually suitable for the purpose of supporting the carrier above the floor, regardless of the shape of the carrier. However, such devices must be purchased and maintained by a restaurant in addition to their other separate high chair devices.
Another commercially available product purports to be suitable for both infants and toddlers. Essentially, the product is a traditional high chair which can recline for cradling an infant. However, such a product requires that the infant be removed from its carrier and placed in the plastic seat of the product. For a parent, such a scenario is not desirable. First, the plastic seat is hard and cold, and may even be dirty. Personal infant carriers usually have cushions on which the baby rests and the parents know that their carrier is clean. Therefore, the parents will be reluctant to switch the baby from their personal carrier to a public high chair device. Secondly, the infant may be nestled in blankets and other such covers, and may even be sleeping. Having to wake the infant and/or move all of the blankets to the public high chair device would further deter use of such a product. Finally, the parents or the restaurant staff are left with trying to store the bulky, empty infant carrier during the meal.
Therefore, it would seem that the only practical option for accommodating all ages of children is to maintain a large number of dedicated infant carrier support devices. A significant drawback, however, to any dedicated infant carrier support device, is that the restaurant must keep a number of such devices on hand, and also must obtain separate high chair structures for toddler children, and booster seats for older children. Available infant carrier support devices and high chairs are large and bulky, and therefore, require a substantial amount of valuable restaurant floor space. While some high chair structures are stackable, infant carrier support devices generally are not.
Another drawback to maintaining a large number of such devices is the additional purchase and replacement costs for the devices. However, restaurants, and particularly family-type restaurants, desire to keep their family patrons not only satisfied, but also comfortable with the thought that their children will be safe during the dining experience. Therefore, they must assume the cost of purchasing and maintaining a large number of different devices to do so.
Another drawback to having a large number of separate high chairs and infant carrier support devices, is the cleaning required for such structures. Food is usually splattered all over by toddler children and may also be splattered by older infant children. Of course, parents do not want to place their child in a high chair or other device which is still dirty from the previous child. Therefore, the work loads of waitpersons, buspersons, and hosts are all increased to ensure clean high chairs and infant carrier support devices.
Therefore, it is one objective of the invention to accommodate dining families so that their children of all ages are safe and secure during the meal.
It is another objective of the invention to accommodate both toddler children and infant children during dining.
It is still another objective of the invention to reduce the costs to the restaurant owner and the work loads of the staff associated with such accommodation.
It is another objective of the invention to safely provide support to a child during a meal which is above the floor and off of the table.
Still further, it is an objective to provide such accommodation in a safe manner to reduce the liability exposure of a restaurant owner.